Kuala Lampur, July 27 -- If someone had asked me during my first year at Universiti Malaya what my greatest ambition was, I would have said "getting a good CGPA".

That was it. That was my entire world. Every decision, every thought, every effort, all anchored on the pursuit of academic excellence.

And don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But looking back, I realise how narrow my perspective was.

I only realised that studies are not everything when I was at the end of my third year, and for someone in a four-year programme like mine, that was already very late.

Three years, six semesters had already gone by, just like that. I had only one year left.

By then, I had spent enough time watching others grow beyon...